Imabari Machinaka Beer

I find the background of Shunichi Nakajima, the head brewer at Imabari Machinaka Beer, really interesting. He’s from Tottori, earned a master’s degree from Ehime University, and then spent 13 years doing medical device R&D.

A business trip to the U.S. introduced him to IPA, and he fell in love with how good it tasted. After returning to Japan, he did a hands-on brewing experience at Iwami Beer in Shimane, and that’s when he decided, “I want to make this myself,” and become a brewer.

And the reason he’s in Imabari is that it’s part of a revitalization project for a shopping street that had started to show more shuttered storefronts. His parent company, Arigatou Service, opened a brewpub in 2020 inside the Imabari Ginza shopping arcade to bring people back to the area with beer.

In the back of the shop, there’s a 750-liter boiling tank and 500-liter fermentation tanks lined up, and they pour freshly made beer on the spot from eight taps. They also offer tasting sets and sell it by volume.

The Harehime Hazy IPA uses Ehime-grown Harehime mandarin oranges, and it won gold at an international beer competition. The Mango Hazy Pale Ale also won gold at the International Beer Cup 2023. And amazingly, they won their first gold just one year after opening.

The Kaminoshima Lemon Ale is easy to drink even for people who don’t like beer’s bitterness, and the Cacao Milk Stout has a chocolate-like flavor made with cacao nibs. Nakajima’s strength is his wide range in using Ehime citrus and fruit in all kinds of ways.